Reverse Engineering for the 3D Printing Market
Article by Steve Vosmik, ECM
With the ever-increasing popularity of 3D printing/additive manufacturing comes an increased need for the creation of accurate and detailed CAD models. As this industry continues to mature and areas where this technology is best suited begin to emerge, one in particular can prove to be challenging. The Maintenance, Repair and Operations (MRO) market is a key industry targeted by additive manufacturing OEM’s and service bureaus. Since replacement parts are typically low volume orders, 3D printing is the natural choice to replace traditional manufacturing methods since it is fast, cost effective and very flexible when it comes to design changes. And now that metal parts can be printed in a huge variety of material choices, the MRO parts business has skyrocketed. This topic has been worn out over the past several years, but it’s important to understand why 3D printing works here and why reverse engineering an original part, accurately, is so important. Creating an accurate CAD model by reverse engineering an existing part requires a great deal of skill if you want it to create an accurate model. Anybody can scan a part and create a CAD file and say it’s “accurate.” What you find later is that it wasn’t, and you’ve inherited a whole host of new problems with hopes the software can fix the inaccuracies created by poor data collection practices. To do this the right way and to create a CAD model you can be certain is as accurate as possible, the user should possess a strong understanding of both metrology and engineering best-practices. From our perspective, you should know what the best tool is for the job, meaning what type of equipment is right to collect the data and then, what software is best suited to manipulate that data and create an accurate model. Let’s discuss in more detail and approach this from ECM Global’s perspective.
How do we ensure our customers the best possible result when they come to us for reverse engineering services? Let’s start with our employees, our in-house and field personnel are degreed mechanical engineers who are CMS certified (Coordinate Metrology Society), meaning they have taken and passed a written exam proving they have a good understanding of metrology best practices. Why is this important, well, because there are challenges of how to collect data, what equipment to use to collect this data, how to categorize and inventory it and the list continues. This is a topic that we could expand on for some time, but in most cases, using a scanner to collect millions of data points to create a CAD file is the most widely recognized and used method. ECM has a wide array of different scanning technologies to ensure we can always select the correct data gathering device for each specific job. There are times, however, when a combination of technologies can and should be employed to create the best result. This is where the metrology experience comes into play. How and when do you select the right tool for the job.
Once the data has been collected in an accurate manner, it’s time to select the right modeling software. Here at ECM we have the right inventory of software, scanners and other measurement devices to accurately collect the needed data to generate an accurate CAD file. The adage, garbage in = garbage out does apply here, so the importance of collecting clean and accurate data from the beginning is paramount.
Please let us know if this is something we can help your company explore. As with anything, there is a right way to do things and “the other way.”
